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CHORUS.

Hence guilty joys, diftaftes, furmizes,
Hence falfe tears, deceits, disguises,
Dangers, doubts, delays, furprizes;

Fires that fcorch, yet dare not fhine :
Pureft love's unwasting treasure,
Conftant faith, fair hope, long leisure;
Days of eafe, and nights of pleafure;
Sacred Hymen! these are thine.

ODE ON SOLITUD E.

4-0

Written when the Author was about Twelve Years old.

H

APPY the man, whose wish and care

A few paternal acres bound,

Content to breathe his native air,

In his own ground.

Whofe herds with milk, whofe fields with bread,

Whose flocks fupply him with attire,

Whofe trees in fummer yield him shade,
In winter fire.

Bleft, who can unconcern'dly find
Hours, days, and years flide foft away,

In health of body, peace of mind,

Quiet by day.

Sound fleep by night; study and ease,
Together mix'd; fweet recreation;
And innocence, which moft does please

With meditation.

G 3

5

10

15

Thus

Thus let me live, unfeen, unknown,

Thus unlamented let me die,

Steal from the world, and not a stone

Tell where I lie.

OD E.

20

THE DYING CHRISTIAN TO HIS SOUL.

I.

VITAL fpark of heavenly flame!

Quit, oh quit this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying,
Oh the pain, the bliss of dying!
Ceafe, fond Nature, ceafe thy ftrife,
And let me languish into life.

II.

Hark! they whifper; Angels fay,
Sifter Spirit, come away.
What is this abforbs me quite?

Steals my fenfes, fhuts my fight,
Drowns my fpirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my Soul, can this be Death?
III.

The world recedes; it difappears!

Heaven opens on my eyes! my ears

With founds feraphic ring :

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Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!

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ΑΝ

ESSAY

ON

CRITICISM.

Written in the Year M DCC IX*.

"Si quid novifti rectius iftis,

"Candidus imperti; fi non, his utere mecum."

HOR.

Mr. Pope told me himself, that the "Effay on "Criticifm" was indeed written in 1707, though faid 1709 by mistake. J. RICHARDSON.

THE Poem is in one book, but divided into three principal parts or members. The first [to ver. 201.] gives rules for the Study of the Art of Criticism; the fecond [from thence to ver. 560.] expofes the Caufes of wrong Judgment; and the third [from thence to the end] marks out the Morals of the Critic. When the Reader hath well confidered the whole, and hath obferved the regularity of the plan, the masterly conduct of the feveral parts, the penetration into Nature, and the compafs of learning fo confpicuous throughout, he should then be told that it was the work of an Author who had not attained the twentieth year of his age. A very learned Critic has fhewn, that Horace had the fame attention to method in his Art of Poetry.

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INTRODUCTION. That 'tis as great a fault to judge

ill, as to write ill, and a more dangerous one to the

public, ver. 1.

That a true Tafte is as rare to be found as a true Genius, ver. 9 to 18.

That most men are born with fome Tafte, but spoil'd by falfe Education, ver. 19 to 25.

The multitude of Critics and caufes of them, ver. 26

to 45.

That we are to study our own Tafte, and know the limits
of it, ver. 46 to 67.

Nature the beft guide of judgment, ver. 68 to 87.
Improved by Art and Rules, which are but methodized
Nature, ver. 88.

Rules derived from the practice of the Ancient Poets,

ver. 88. to 110.

That therefore the Ancients are neceffary to be ftudied by a Critic, particularly Homer and Virgil, ver. 120

to 138.

Of Licences, and the ufe of them by the Ancients, ver.

140 to 180.

Reverence due to the Ancients, and praise of them, ver. 181, &c.

PART

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